Pants Rule
Sam: Asher, you need to put your pants on.
Asher: No, my rule is I don't have to wear pants in the afternoon.
These posts are from the 'Being an At-Home Dad' category.
Thursday, 11/05/09
Tuesday, 11/03/09
Silly Interventions
I should have a whole category of posts about silly things I have to tell our kids not to do. When my parents were with us in California they said they'd like a recording of all of my interventions from the day. This followed me telling Asher, "Asher, do not spit in the tea pot!"
Today's interventions:
Today's interventions:
Liam, Do not use Asher's Pooh to clean your bottom."
Thursday, 08/20/09
Wednesday, 08/12/09
The costs of parenting
Tracy was called out early this morning and late this evening leaving me some intense times of getting four kids fed, dressed and ready for bed.
I tend to forget how hard I worked at something after I complete it, my degrees for instance. I will likely not remember how much of my life and soul I have poured into raising my kids. They will not know either, until they raise kids of their own.
I tend to forget how hard I worked at something after I complete it, my degrees for instance. I will likely not remember how much of my life and soul I have poured into raising my kids. They will not know either, until they raise kids of their own.
Tuesday, 08/11/09
Brothers and sisters and playmates.
I don't have a brother. Katie and I played quite a lot, when we weren't fighting or trying to assert who was older.
Asher and Liam, though, are fast friends. They are serious playmates. There is lots of giddy rioutous fun in the house when they are together. They are two years apart, which I might have guessed would limit their enjoyment of each other. If I leave them together, there will of course be some fighting over who gets to hold a toy. More of the time, though, they are laughing hysterically as they run around the house shouting, "Blast Off!" or for some reason that escapes me but is apparently perfectly logical to preschoolers, "Lingo!" Liam looks a little sullen in the morning until Asher wakes up. He will sometimes try to be loud down stairs to force him to come down stairs. At the Living History Farms today, the younger three stayed in the triple stroller while Asher walked. I let Indy and Liam out at the end because we had time to run, and Asher and Liam were off like a shot running from tree to tree laughing hystericallyh about something again indecipherable to me.
It is a joy to see the my kids so enamored with each other's attention and play. They try to include Indy too, some of the time, but it is clear that she is interested in other things, and her language and running ability usually leaves her behind in the games. She prefers to come to me and tell me about the stickers she has found, or the drink she has concocted in the kitchen and is carrying in the fire extinguisher with captain hook's hook for a straw.
The point of the post is this, I wanted to remember how much fun Asher and Liam have as two and four year olds. They are fast companions and playmates. They have great fund together, and that is a joy for a parent to see.
Asher and Liam, though, are fast friends. They are serious playmates. There is lots of giddy rioutous fun in the house when they are together. They are two years apart, which I might have guessed would limit their enjoyment of each other. If I leave them together, there will of course be some fighting over who gets to hold a toy. More of the time, though, they are laughing hysterically as they run around the house shouting, "Blast Off!" or for some reason that escapes me but is apparently perfectly logical to preschoolers, "Lingo!" Liam looks a little sullen in the morning until Asher wakes up. He will sometimes try to be loud down stairs to force him to come down stairs. At the Living History Farms today, the younger three stayed in the triple stroller while Asher walked. I let Indy and Liam out at the end because we had time to run, and Asher and Liam were off like a shot running from tree to tree laughing hystericallyh about something again indecipherable to me.
It is a joy to see the my kids so enamored with each other's attention and play. They try to include Indy too, some of the time, but it is clear that she is interested in other things, and her language and running ability usually leaves her behind in the games. She prefers to come to me and tell me about the stickers she has found, or the drink she has concocted in the kitchen and is carrying in the fire extinguisher with captain hook's hook for a straw.
The point of the post is this, I wanted to remember how much fun Asher and Liam have as two and four year olds. They are fast companions and playmates. They have great fund together, and that is a joy for a parent to see.
Sunday, 07/26/09
An objective view
Today I walked in the church nursery with Miles in the Bjorn. One of the attendants said, I don't know how you do it. Liam and Asher were boisterously playing with a teeter-totter like toy on the verge of hurting each other and laughing rompously. Little moments like these from outside observers help grasp that there is a reason my life feels stressful.
Thursday, 06/11/09
Heading to Graduation
We are packing up the family to head out to my graduation in Pasadena. Flying with the family is definitely running the gantlet. We keep surviving it, but It makes me anxious.
Friday, 06/05/09
Sleepless night
3:30am - Haven't gotten any sleep yet. Liam will be awake in 2 1/2 hours. This is going to be brutal.
5:30am - Got to sleep from 4am to 5:15am.
6:15am - Liam's awake and the day begins.
5:30am - Got to sleep from 4am to 5:15am.
6:15am - Liam's awake and the day begins.
Monday, 06/01/09
Power of Coffee
Sleep deprivation affects me dramatically. Tracy can function remarkably well with two hours of sleep when she is on call. In contrast, when I am sleep deprived I can't perform simple tasks. I got up this morning and tried to focus my attention on drinking the cold coffee I made yesterday so I could turn on my brain. It took me about 10 minutes to find a cup, mix in the cream and equal and start to drink it. In my defense I was simultaneously working on the heroic task of making toast for Asher.
When Tracy came downstairs from her shower I had successfully cajoled Asher into putting most of his clothes on (he wouldn't put his shoes on because he didn't want to stop wearing his fire boots) and I was finishing up Indy's clothes.
Tracy asked, "Have you fed Indy?"
Me, "[mumble mumble] uh... no."
Tracy walks up to the sink and holds up the empty formula container, "Did you throw it out?"
"No," I said, puzzled. I sat frowning at Indy for a few seconds. I must have fed you. A murky image of sitting at the table with her G-Tube comes to my mind. Was that today, I wondered, baffled?
After another hour of being awake I can now fairly clearly recall feeding Indy. Some mornings I feel as if I've had a stroke, as if really helpful portions of my brain are completely unavailable to me. Coffee, apparently, is capable of kicking these areas back online. Useful. Creepy, but useful.
When Tracy came downstairs from her shower I had successfully cajoled Asher into putting most of his clothes on (he wouldn't put his shoes on because he didn't want to stop wearing his fire boots) and I was finishing up Indy's clothes.
Tracy asked, "Have you fed Indy?"
Me, "[mumble mumble] uh... no."
Tracy walks up to the sink and holds up the empty formula container, "Did you throw it out?"
"No," I said, puzzled. I sat frowning at Indy for a few seconds. I must have fed you. A murky image of sitting at the table with her G-Tube comes to my mind. Was that today, I wondered, baffled?
After another hour of being awake I can now fairly clearly recall feeding Indy. Some mornings I feel as if I've had a stroke, as if really helpful portions of my brain are completely unavailable to me. Coffee, apparently, is capable of kicking these areas back online. Useful. Creepy, but useful.
Thursday, 05/28/09
Eight weeks with four under five
Tracy has been back to work for two weeks now. This week she is on service, so she is working every day. We keeping figuring this out one day at a time. It is fun having a newborn. The other three are very interested in Miles. Sleep is a challenge. I either stay up with him until 2, or I get up the first time he needs to eat. Tracy is usually up with him by 5:30. We sleep in the afternoons when Sam comes.
Miles is most often asleep. I can usually keep him in the bjorn when I need to get things done. He usually doesn't hinder the daily logistics of getting kids dressed, making meals and putting kids to bed, unless he's upset. Then he takes an adult out of commission for a while. If there is only one adult, everything else gets set aside.
Asher, Liam and Indy have become very interested in helping when I cook. They get things for me, take things to the trash, and I hand them things and they put them on the counter or the table. I let them open cans and stir things. They all get pretty excited about this and it occupies them so they aren't otherwise acting out and pulling me away from cooking.
TV is a fixed part of our day. We didn't let any of our kids watch TV before they were two years old. Now that they're all two, they often watch one or two Tivo'd shows in the morning and two more in the afternoons after nap time. Fixed blocks of time with all three kids attending to something are very useful in keeping up with our four under five.
As to going places, Miles is content in the car more often than he is not. We still have a variety of morning activities. The other adult helpers are still very significant. Tracy, Martha and Ivy's mom Colleen do a lot of the morning transportation and add outings for the kids.
Parenting, for us, is an extemporaneous activity. We make each day up as we go. For the most part, we have been successful in surfing our family chaos.
Miles is most often asleep. I can usually keep him in the bjorn when I need to get things done. He usually doesn't hinder the daily logistics of getting kids dressed, making meals and putting kids to bed, unless he's upset. Then he takes an adult out of commission for a while. If there is only one adult, everything else gets set aside.
Asher, Liam and Indy have become very interested in helping when I cook. They get things for me, take things to the trash, and I hand them things and they put them on the counter or the table. I let them open cans and stir things. They all get pretty excited about this and it occupies them so they aren't otherwise acting out and pulling me away from cooking.
TV is a fixed part of our day. We didn't let any of our kids watch TV before they were two years old. Now that they're all two, they often watch one or two Tivo'd shows in the morning and two more in the afternoons after nap time. Fixed blocks of time with all three kids attending to something are very useful in keeping up with our four under five.
As to going places, Miles is content in the car more often than he is not. We still have a variety of morning activities. The other adult helpers are still very significant. Tracy, Martha and Ivy's mom Colleen do a lot of the morning transportation and add outings for the kids.
Parenting, for us, is an extemporaneous activity. We make each day up as we go. For the most part, we have been successful in surfing our family chaos.
